What Can We Use For Pain Caused by Compressed or Damaged Nerves?

fiberowendy2000 · 03-04-2007, 04:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GJZH

Nancy,

I guess I am getting some of these drugs confused...I thought Cymbalta and Lyrica were in the same family or is Lyrica in the same family as Neurontin? It is difficult to keep tract of the new drugs...I think I am going to have to sit down with my Pain doc and have him go over all of the drugs with me at the next appt.

I thought you could not take some of these together...but I guess I am confused..

Lyrica, Neurontin and Topomax are the same family. In fact Lyrica and Neurontin are the same drug, just Lyrica is the super-consentrated version from what I understand. Neurontin just made me gain 50 pounds which I am working on getting rid of. So if you have that side effect on Neurontin, you are best not to take Lyrica because the same would happen.
Cymbalta is the sister drug of Effexor (neither of which helped me by the way).
My nerves are entrapped by the muscles, especial my sciatic nerve, which runs through my piriformis muscle instead of around it like normal people.

So when that muscle group gets in a dander, my sciatica kicks in.
My left shoulder also has the same problems with the nerves of my left arm. If my shoulder is having an FM moment, I find my left hand is slightly weaker than my right.
I hope you find something that helps you!

jarrett622 · 04-03-2007, 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by moose53

GJZH,

I have a compressed spinal cord in my neck which causes pain and tingling down both arms and into all fingers and thumbs.

I have neuropathy in my fingers/toes, hands/feet, forearms/lower legs from a blood condition. Numbness, loss of strength, loss of muscle mass, PAIN.

I also have fibromyalgia.

My son says if I were a horse they'd shoot me

Good thing I'm a

!!

I've found that both Duloxetine (Cymbalta) and Effexor XR work to pretty much stop the majority of the pain.

I could not open jars at all before I started taking the Cymbalta. Even if I hit them with a hammer beforehand. I can open brand new jars without pre-striking which means, I've gotten a lot of strength back -- especially in my left hand.

I stopped taking the Cymbalta when I left the clinical trial. I'm now taking Effexor SR. That's only because the Cymbalta was not available yet when I started taking this class of drugs.

For me, the Cymbalta worked faster -- full effect in one week. The Effexor XR took a full month to kick in.

The Effexor XR throws me into nasty withdrawals if I stop taking it for a week -- lousy transportation combined with snow sometimes makes it difficult to get to the pharmacy. I keep telling myself, I need to get my prescriptions mailed.

I could NOT tolerate the pain level before I started taking these drugs. The only other pain reliever I use is 800 mg Ibuprofen 1-3 times a day for the arthritis in my spine. I also get ESIs periodically in my neck and lumbar. I don't like them because they turn me into *THE* STEROID WITCH.

Barb

Oddly enough, Effexor does nothing for the tingling, pain and other nasties in my feet. Course I was only taking 75mg. I'm currently in the weaning off process.

I've heard about Cymbalta for this kind of pain. What was your experience with the sides?

I was taking gabapentin for the symptoms. 600mg a day about an hour or so before bedtime. It turned me into a bloated zombie with suicidal thoughts. Not a good place to be.

moose53 · 04-06-2007, 08:10 PM

For me, the Effexor XR and the Cymbalta worked exactly the same. The only difference that I found was that the Cymbalta started relieving the pain in one week as opposed to four weeks.

Come to think of it, when I stopped the clinical trial after about six months, I did not ramp down off of the Cymbalta and I did not get the MAJOR WITHDRAWAL that I get when I miss 7 days of Effexor XR doses.

In my body, in my experience, if one of these drugs worked/did not work, you'll have the same experience with the other drug. Although, when I was trying to find an NSAID that I could tolerate on my pathetic stomach, most of the other ones kicked me to the curb, while the Ibuprofen only 'bothered' me.

Because of the fillers and actual commitment to standards by the drug companies, you might see a difference. In my experience, the only time that differences between examples of one class of drugs have been really noticeable has been between generic and non-generic.

I didn't really have any side effects at all, other than dry mouth, from Cymbalta. Since it seems to kick in so quickly, it might be worth your while to give a try.

Good luck. I know how much this type of pain destroys your life. I hope you find a solution.

Barb

razzle51 · 04-08-2007, 01:33 AM

Effexor puts on weight too . as well as Neurontin , Lyrica . Cymbalta made me nuts so had to quit that one . I am now on Keppra and have been 1 yr .Seems to be working well . There is always Tegretol . Ameritriptiline also puts on weight.

GJZH · 04-09-2007, 10:49 AM

Di,

I have not tried Zanaflex....Maybe I will ask my pain doc about this ....I am back on Topamax, but noticed now I am starting to tingle and burn again...so maybe the Zanaflex would help with this....I hate to up the Topamax again...Thanks for the info...I see my PM doc in a few weeks...

jennyk38 · 06-16-2007, 08:39 PM

just reading your post about zanaflex and wanted to share my story about it. i was diagnosed with rsd and started taking zanaflex 2mg at bedtime (and a lot of other stuff too) anyway nothing was working so i went to new p.m. and started taking zanaflex 8mg at bedtime and 4mg in am and 4 mg in afternoon. it has made a world of diffierence but nobody sat down and discussed it with me, just wondering if this is a safe dosage?

fiberowendy2000 · 06-17-2007, 08:06 AM

According to rxlist.com:
A single dose of 8 mg of tizanidine reduces muscle tone in patients with spasticity for a period of several hours. The effect peaks at approximately 1 to 2 hours and dissipates between 3 to 6 hours.
So if you take a 24 hour day and do a little math magic

you can take up to 4 8 mg pills in a day. Jenny, you are just fine.
By the way I am a strong advocate for Robaxin. It has been the only muscle relaxant strong enough besides Soma (which doctors are trying to stay away from because of its addictive issues) to help me.

lisa_tos · 06-19-2007, 08:53 PM

You can also have your doctor order a mixture of nerve pain drugs in a transdermal creme. This is a special creme that takes the medication through your skin, you just rub in on in areas that hurt. I find I can take medications without side effects in transdermal creme form that I have bad side effects to in pill form. I think the medication stays more local and doesn't get into your bloodstream as much.

here's one web site that shows some common formulas
http://www.mypainreliefdoc.com/PRISM-topical-gels.htm

you would proably have to work with your doctor to tune it to your problem and your side effect problems.

fiberowendy2000 · 06-20-2007, 10:26 AM

Lisa interesting website. Never thought that could work. But what if your pain is more widespread? Wouldn't that cause a problem?

lisa_tos · 06-20-2007, 11:19 AM

I am not sure, something to check with your doctor.

I take one pain pill in oral med form and rub the creme on six places on my body that are most painful, and it works really well for me. I have no cognitive effects, sleepiness, or weight gain issues from my pain meds, (unless I get flared up enough to have to add other meds)

There are several different transdermal bases they can use, the one I use (not the website ones, I have not tried his products) is pretty thin and can spread over a wider area.

The dose of meds is related to the quantity of creme you use, as you might guess.

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